1. Field
The present disclosure pertains to the field of information processing, and more particularly, to the field of memory management and protection.
2. Description of Related Art
Memory based attacks are a significant threat to the security of information processing systems. Some such attacks involve storing malicious code such as a virus or a worm in the memory of a computer system, then exploiting bugs and/or buffer overflows while running legitimate programs to transfer control to the malicious code. One approach to preventing this type of attack is to divide the address space of a process or a context into a number of smaller “micro-contexts” so that program functions, modules, or other components, or portions of components, may be assigned to a micro-context and securely executed within a process, context, or execution environment, such as a virtual machine. Micro-context switches may be monitored, for example, by trapping to a virtual machine monitor (“VMM”), to protect these components from other program components, including program components operating at higher privilege level.